When Conversation becomes Competition

I figured out why I’m a quiet guy.. ready? It’s because I am quiet… in larger groups. I don’t talk much in large group settings.

I’m currently on the road with the Word of Life Christmas tour called Magi.

We go hard morning, noon and night and stay in host homes each evening. Through these host home experiences, I’ve discovered a few things about myself in the past few days. When assigned to a host home with just one other person, I can be pretty chatty and especially if each person understands the ‘ping pong’ of proper conversation. However if I’m sent to a home with a larger contingent of people, it makes proper conversation difficult. It is still possible, but it is pretty difficult to play ping pong with more than four people. It’s fine for some, but difficult for me.

So I am not a large group conversationalist. Nor am I a large group competitionalist either. Meaning that I’m not interested in playing large group sports. What does this have to do with conversation?

When too many people enter one discussion, conversation becomes competition. It becomes a competition to try and squeeze a word into the conversation. Those most competitive fight for air time, and I typically peace out.

Not that I don’t have anything to add to the conversation, I do, but by the time I’ve found a pause to insert my two cents, someone else has changed the subject and I missed my opportunity. It can be stressful and exhausting. Just like competitive sports. And if you know me well, you know I don’t do sports. Haha:)

What difference does it make? None really. There’s nothing wrong with competition. Just a life observation.

So next time when you find yourself in a large conversation watch out for us non competitionalists. Thanks:)